Christoph Niemann draws & tweets while running the NYC marathon

"Mile 16.3: Incredible crowd on 1 ave. Hope I am not going to John Boehner all the way to the park."

Christoph Niemann is an illustrator, designer and author of Abstract Sunday, a column for the New York Times Magazine. This past Sunday, he ran in the New York City Marathon and posted sketches of his experience on Twitter throughout the event. One of the first was after he thought security wouldn’t allow him to bring art supplies to the marathon, but then saw another runner permitted to bring an Italian flag.

Niemann posted more than 49 tweets and 40 sketches during the 26.2-mile race. When he was conditioning for the marathon, Niemann practiced simultaneously running and sketching so he never had to stop to draw. He finished in 6 hours and 11 minutes (the winner completed the marathon in just 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 6 seconds). Niemann kept his drawing tools in a backback – they included two sketch pads, paint tubes, markers, pencils, a sharpener, an eraser, two iPhones, and extra batteries. As you can expect, many of his tweets involved being hungry/thirsty and trying to do something about it.

"Still on the ferry. Nervous."

"Mile 13.9: Darn! I think I missed the bananas while being serenaded by Sean."

"Mile 17.3: Readers, if one of you has a banana, pls meet me on NW corner of 125th and 1st ave. I am at 80th now."